Wilson-Raybould: Feds want to just ‘manage the problem’ of Indigenous Peoples

Former justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould says she believes the federal Liberals have decided to “manage the problem” with Indigenous people rather than do the hard work of reconciliation.

In a speech Wednesday at the First Nations Justice Council in B.C., Wilson-Raybould accuses her former cabinet colleagues of backtracking on the grand commitments Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has made about reconciliation.

She says the government appears to want to make incremental and limited shifts rather than transforming laws and policies to resolve injustices that have stood for generations.

Wilson-Raybould says she faced obstacles and resistance within the federal government when she issued a directive over how Crown lawyers should handle civil cases with Indigenous people.

The directive was one of her last acts as justice minister and attorney general before she was shuffled to the veterans-affairs portfolio in January, and ultimately removed from the Liberal fold over the SNC-Lavalin scandal.

Wilson-Raybould says there are still fears within the Ottawa “establishment” that changing the approach to civil litigation and cases involving title claims is a costly mistake.